Friday, October 31, 2014

Will Chuy be the new Karen Lewis?

It
will be interesting to see if Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Chicago,
can capture the imagination of the electorate – or at least those people who
are determined to show up at the polling places come February to vote for
Anybody But Rahm.

Garcia
is the long-time politico at the city, state and county levels who now wants to
try to become mayor come the 2015 municipal elections.

THAT
WAS THE campaign that many had hoped would be between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis – who has made her own detestation
for Hizzoner publicly known on many an occasion.

But
Lewis was hospitalized earlier this month, and it turns out had to undergo
serious surgery. She has health issues that make the idea of running a
political campaign incredibly unrealistic.

So
that leaves the Emanuel detesters in desperate need of somebody, anybody, else
they can vote for on Feb. 24 – and again on April 7 if a run-off in the
nonpartisan election becomes a necessity.

That
is where Garcia – a long-time critic of the Chicago political establishment –
comes in. If the Mexican-born politico can rise above the image of being
somebody that people from the Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods vote for,
he could be a credible opponent.

WHICH
IS WHY I find it interesting to see where Garcia plans to be on Friday – he will
be the keynote speaker for the Chicago Teachers Union legislators and educators
appreciation dinner to be held at Plummer’s Hall; a particularly popular Near
West Side location for just about any kind of organized labor gathering.

Gov.
Pat Quinn also is to be there, along with Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill. – both of
whom have their own election desires up for grabs come Tuesday.

Yet
I’d bet that politically-minded people will be paying more attention to Chuy
(for those who are clueless, it’s a common Spanish nickname for people who were
named after the Son of God) and anything he says more than anything that comes
from the mouth of the “Mighty” Quinn.

For
Lewis was planning to use her organization with the teachers union as the base
of any campaign she could have run against Emanuel. There also are several
other people in the union who are planning to run for aldermanic seats.

IT
COULD HAVE become sort of like a political slate that could have created a “Mayor
Lewis” some allies in the City Council.

Is
Garcia capable of stepping into the vacuum created by Lewis’ departure from the
upcoming election cycle to create a campaign momentum for himself? We could get
our first clues Friday night!

Now
whether it will happen is something we’ll have to see.

I
noticed the Capitol Fax newsletter out of Springfield pointed out that Garcia
isn’t exactly the most stellar of fundraisers for his political efforts. Lewis
herself likely would have been vastly outspent by any Emanuel campaign.

THE
SAME IS definitely bound to happen for any political bid that Garcia puts up.
He won’t have enough money to be competitive, and could easily get defined by
Emanuel as someone not up to the job. Because there are those who will want to believe
that no Latino politico truly has the kind of experience to challenge for
leadership of the city of Chicago.

I
noticed that the Chicago Tribune, in reporting earlier this week on Garcia’s
entry into the mayoral campaign, made a point of referring to him in the lede
of their story as a “little known” politician.

Despite
his political experience dating back to the days of Harold Washington as mayor
and his experience in being dumped from the Illinois Senate because then-Mayor
Richard M. Daley preferred the idea of a more subservient Latino in a
Chicago-based legislative seat.

In
the county board, he has been a constant supporter of board President Toni
Preckwinkle – who is the person that some people would like to see replace
Lewis as a mayoral challenger.

WHAT
IF PRECKWINKLE were to wind up giving her backing (even in some discrete form,
such as refusing to do anything positive for Emanuel) to a Garcia bid.

Between
that and the teachers union backing, it could turn him into a credible
challenger. Without it, he could be the guy who gets his butt whomped by 2nd
Ward Alderman Robert Fioretti!

We’ll
see soon enough which scenario is more likely to happen.

-30-

EDITOR'S NOTE: I couldn't help but add the notice issued by the teachers union Friday afternoon that Karen Lewis herself will be present at the event. How nice for Garcia if he can get a campaign photograph of himself arm-in-arm with Lewis. It would be worth more than any financial contribution.

I am a Chicago-area freelance writer who has reported on various political and legal beats. I wrote "Hispanic" issues columns for United Press International, observed up close the Statehouse Scene in Springfield, Ill., the Cook County Board in Chicago and municipal government in places like Calumet City, Ill., and Gary, Ind. For a time, I also wrote about agriculture. Trust me when I say the symbolic stench of partisan politics (particularly when directed against people due to their ethnicity) is far nastier than any odor that could come from a farm animal.